Reimagining the Way We Use Social Media
[Music]
2020
the year that showed us how important
social media really is there’s always a
love-hate relationship when it comes to
social media
there’s people who say social media is a
waste of time
then there’s others who feel social
media is
bad and negative and then there’s other
people who feel
social media is only used for vanity
purposes
like for seeking validation but in 2020
during a global pandemic we all faced a
reality
about social media the reality is
that social media marketing is no longer
optional it is a necessity
people in businesses who had never been
on social media
suddenly found themselves utilizing
these platforms
in order to stay afloat i’m christina
olivares
and i’m here to talk to you today about
why we need to reimagine the way we use
social media
in this new normal i’m going to share
how we can all better understand social
media
and present opportunities that allow you
to be strategic
as you use these platforms moving
forward
i’ve been a digital marketer since the
age of eight
aol was my first social media platform
i was introduced to aol in 1998 when my
parents bought our first computer
aol provided us with home pages and chat
rooms
where we would create a screen name and
chat with people from
all over the world for me aol
allowed me to connect with in-sync fans
and even though they were teenage girls
or
strangers on the internet every time i
logged into that in-sync chat room i
felt connected
at eight years old i was already
cultivating a community
with people who had similar interests
and at eight years old i was already
building a personal brand
with the screen name ice angel 4891
i was doing something that wasn’t being
taught in my third grade classroom
i was learning how to write for the web
i was also learning digital marketing
skills that would later become
the biggest assets to my career
aol turned into myspace myspace turned
into twitter
and facebook and so on you see i’m
immersed in the social media world
i live it and i breathe it
by age 18 i already had 10 years of
digital marketing experience under my
belt
and when i got into college i used that
experience to market myself
i created a linkedin profile to connect
with news industry leaders
i then use my facebook to foster
community with all the student
organizations i was part of
i then learned how to film
edit and produce videos to publish on
youtube
but when i got out of college i faced a
harsh reality
the reality is i couldn’t find a job
i then had to reimagine the way i use
my own social media but for business
i then had a light bulb moment i knew i
had to
cr create my own path
the social butterfly gal started off as
a blog where i documented my journey in
digital marketing
in 2015 hardly anyone in my local san
antonio community
was using their social media for
business
i saw a problem that desperately needed
to be solved
i then decided to turn spg
into a social media company today i have
the honor of leading social media
for one of the largest cultural
festivals in the nation
and helping others with their own social
media
whether it’s a 114 year old meat market
on the south side of san antonio
a trendy retail boutique or a flea
market on the south texas border
you see we all have to understand
how social media is
social media keeps us entertained with
funny videos and viral tick tock
challenges
but social media also helps us to engage
and
inform our audience about specific
topics
but most importantly social media helps
us to connect
with others but you see social media
changes daily
and we all have to understand new
strategies
and trends boy in 2020
did we really learn how to adapt and
pivot
during the shutdown i was faced with a
huge challenge
imagine being the person responsible
for communicating on social media that
one of the nation’s premier festivals
with an economic impact of 340 million
dollars
is cancelled as i was mapping out our
social media crisis plan
i started to think about how vital
social media is
at a time like this but also started to
think about
why people still had a hard time
seeing the value in social media
why did it take a crisis for many to
understand the importance of social
media marketing
in sprout social’s 2020 social index
report
we learned that people are personally
motivated
to use social media to connect with
family and friends
the study also revealed that both
marketers
and consumers agree that when a person’s
content is creative
memorable and impactful it helps in
capturing
attention and 89 of consumers
say that they’ll purchase product or
services
from a brand that has a consistent
social media presence
consistency prior to 2020
what content were you constantly
consistently creating
let’s dive in to some opportunities that
allow us to reimagine
social media moving forward
people seek to come together in times of
crisis
that’s why we need to reimagine the way
we use social
media for cultivating community
during the shutdown in march when we did
the cancellation
i noticed the mood shifted across all of
san antonio
this is an event that brings together
two million people
to the city of san antonio every year
when i was reading the audience’s
comments on facebook and twitter and
i knew we couldn’t just sit this one out
we had to
really re-imagine how we were going to
use social media
to still come together as a community
that’s when i decided to launch a social
media campaign called
at home fiesta the at home fiesta
campaign was meant to rally up
our san antonio community to showcase
how we were all going to come together
even though the event was canceled we
launched
virtual events on facebook live to offer
official merchandise local restaurants
participated by using the hashtag to
offer specific foods
and we then hosted virtual viewing
parties on facebook
twitter and instagram as the tv networks
rebroadcasted last year’s parades
the post in the hashtag reached a total
of
72 million people throughout the month
of april
community we did that
but what about a small business that has
13 families depending on that business
for their income and livelihood
ginger diaz is the owner of a local gift
shop called felice modern
during the shutdown they had to pivot to
full online shopping but instead of
posting and ghosting
they decided to strategically post
on social media they use their instagram
stories to educate their audience on how
to shop online
they then use their instagram content to
share engaging stories about their
employees
and local artists that they regularly
feature in the shop
they use the power of user-generated
content
for social proof they used their social
media
for authentic human connections
which made this transition to full
online shopping
a little bit easier so from cultivating
a community to
forming authentic human connections
finally
we need to reimagine the way we use
social media
for building trust
look at your social media profiles right
now would anybody
be able to trust you would they feel
compelled
to reach out to you or can fail to buy a
product or a service
when i think about how a person is using
their social media
i think about the way los portales flea
market uses theirs
los portals flea market is a 14 acre
flea market
in alton texas there you’ll find
some of the most hardest working vendors
hustling
day in and day out
during a very challenging time los
portales knew that they had to use their
social media
to communicate to the public about what
they were doing
as the shutdown was happening they moved
to video marketing and created dynamic
videos in both english and in spanish
to speak directly to their audience
they then used their instagram live
to host q a sessions so that the public
could know what they were doing
as they pivoted to a drive-through flea
market
they use their social media to establish
trust
as you can see if we reimagine the way
we use social media
personally or in business and use it for
cultivating community
authentic connections and establishing
trust
we have the power to go beyond the
ordinary
and create extraordinary social media
experiences
i’m challenging you right now to
reimagine the way
you use social media ask yourself
how you can use these platforms for good
we are just scratching the surface how
about we take this moment
to unlock the full potential of what we
could do
with social media we have the power
right at our fingertips thank you
[Music]
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